State of Environment: Kathmandu Valley, Kathmandu Nepal:

A Special Review

Ashutosh Mohanty, PhD.

Introduction to Kathmandu Valley:

Kathmandu is one of the fastest growing cities of the South Asia. It is also one of the populous valleys in the Himalayan belt which also called as a temple valley in the region. With the growth of pollution and socio economic development, infrastructure expansion brings lot of pressure towards environment of the Kathmandu Valley.

Kathmandu Valley lies at 1,300 masl and is located between latitudes 27°32’13” and 27°49’10” north and longitudes 85°11’31” and 85°31’38” east. Its three districts, Kathmandu, Lalitpur, and Bhaktapur, cover an area of 899 square kilometres, whereas the area of the valley as a whole is 665 square kilometres. The valley encloses the entire area of Bhaktapur district, 85% of Kathmandu district and 50% of Lalitpur district.

The valley is bowl shaped and surrounded by the Mahabharat mountain range on all sides. There are four hills acting as forts of the valley, Phulchowki in the South East, Chandragiri/ Champa Devi in the South West, Shivapuri in the North West, and Nagarkot in the North East. The highest altitudes are 2,166m (in Bhaktapur), 2,732m (in Kathmandu), and 2,831m (in Lalitpur).

able 2.1: Distribution of population by district,

1991-2001

Source: ICIMOD Publication 2007

State of Demographic profile of Kathmandu Valley:

The population of the three districts of Kathmandu Valley increased from 1,107,370 in 1991 to 1,647,092 in 2001. The annual population growth rate in Kathmandu district was 4.71%. The population of Kathmandu district was 675,341 in 1991 (3.6% of Nepal’s population) and 1,081,845 in 2001 (4.6% of Nepal’s population). The population density1 of Kathmandu district was 1,069 in 1981; 1,710 in 1991, and 2,739 in 2001.

The three districts of Kathmandu Valley consist of five municipalities and 114 VDCs. According to the Local Self Governance Act, 1999, urban areas are classified into Metropolitan Cities, Sub- Metropolitan Cities, and Municipalities. As per this Act, there are three municipalities (Bhaktapur, Madhyapur, and Kirtipur), one sub-metropolitan city (Lalitpur), and one metropolitan city (Kathmandu) in the valley. The population in designated urban areas of Kathmandu Valley has increased considerably (Table 2.4). Urbanization has not been uniform throughout the country. Most urbanized areas are in Kathmandu Valley, which contributes significantly to the overall urbanization status of the country. The urban population density of Kathmandu Valley is 10,265 (the population is 995,966 and the area 97 sq.km.) (CBS 2003b). On the other hand, the rural population is also increasing slowly in the valley. The average annual growth of the rural population is comparatively higher than for Nepal as a whole (Table 2.5).

1 No of person per sq km Driving Force:

The rapid growth in population is one of the major driving forces for the environmental degradation in Kathmandu Valley. The population growth is due to various pull factors that attract wider population to the valley. The total population of the Kathmandu Valley is the sum of local inhabitants, migrant population2, and transient population3.

Nepalese living in rural areas have correspondingly been pushed to move to urban areas by the societal perception that there are better employment prospects, infrastructure, schools, and healthcare facilities, and by their belief that they will enjoy a higher quality of life in the city. While these factors were adequate to explain urbanization and internal migration in the past and a new push factor has become vital at present. The Maoist insurgency, and the corresponding governmental response, is pushing a considerable number of citizens, who fear for their safety and/or lives, to move to the urban areas.

The transient population is distributed sporadically throughout the valley, determined by the objectives of their visits. The main reasons for coming to the valley are higher education, medical check-ups, pilgrimages, bureaucratic formalities, visiting relatives, internal tourism, and official visits.

State of Environment in Kathmandu Valley as per OECD framework :

According to the framework developed by Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and other organizations, which has been adopted by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) for the preparation of an integrated environmental assessment report of the Kathmandu Valley’s Environment Outlook, the five key environmental issues in the Kathmandu Valley were:

1. Air quality and traffic management 2. Settlement patterns 3. Water resources 4. Waste management 5. Natural disaster preparedness (focused on earthquakes and land subsidence)

2 Migrant population refers to internal and external migrants 3 Transient population refers to those who come for temporary purpose

A Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) Framework was used to analyse the five issues in the Kathmandu Valley. The Framework is described below and shown diagrammatic form:

Foresighted State of Environment in Kathmandu Valley:

SN Issue Driver • Pressure State • Impact • Response 1 Air quality and Kathmandu-centric • Rapid Air quality data from previous • As the • Several traffic development; weak urbanization years have shown that a high concentration of fine agencies within management institutional • Haphazard level of suspended particulate particles in the government capacities, and growth matter (SPM) is a major Kathmandu is very and several other • high, this is certainly stakeholders are increasing affluence Unplanned problem in Kathmandu Valley. settlements having adverse involved in air and modernization Among the particles, the • Vehicular impacts on public quality emissions smaller particles such as health. Other impacts management. • Increase in PM10 and PM2.5 are of of air pollution are the Some of the key number of vehicles serious concern because they economic impacts due agencies and their • Industrial tend to remain in the air for a to adverse effects on responsibilities are tourism and loss of shown in Table emissions long time and can enter deep • Emissions from human productivity 3.9. into the respiratory system because of poor Over the years, mismanagement of causing serious health risks to solid waste health. various those exposed. stakeholders have The concentration of NO2 and introduced SO2 are generally within the positive steps to national standards of 40 and control air pollution in the 50 g/m3 respectively. NO2 valley (Table levels are generally higher in 3.10). areas with heavy traffic, because vehicles are the main source of NO2. The SO2 levels tend to be higher in Bhaktapur, because of the brick kilns in the area which burn high sulphur coal. 2 Settlement The population of • Change in the The rural areas of Kathmandu • River pollution In 2002, the patterns the valley in 2020 settlement pattern have experienced • Air pollution government will reach 2.5 million • Modern unprecedented land • Dumping of solid approved a Long Term compared to 1.6 development due subdivision and building waste to expansion of the Development million in 2001 construction over the past • Loss of agricultural • industry and land Concept for (KVTDC 2002). This decade. An influx of internally growth in population service sectors displaced people has suddenly • Traffic congestion Kathmandu Valley includes both natural created a demand for housing • Land speculation prepared by growth and plots and basic services. • Loss of cultural Kathmandu Valley Town emigration. At Those who cannot afford land heritage Development present the in municipal areas prefer to • Substandard housing conditions Committee. population growth stay on the fringe areas of the • Gaps in supply of for the valley has cities and in villages. and demand for basic been estimated at One of the vivid manifestations services. more than four per of unplanned settlement in • Domination of cent per year. The Kathmandu is the emergence informal land brokers low density urban of squatter settlements in in the land market sprawl and different parts of the city. uncontrolled settlement development in rural areas are the two key issues in urban development. 3 Water resources • Population growth • Water quantity • • • Urban growth and • Water quality expansion • Domestic waste • Agricultural • Industrial waste development • Increase in the • Tourism use of agro- • Infrastructural chemicals development • Change in land- use pattern 4 Waste • • • management 5 Natural disaster • • • preparedness (focused on earthquakes and land subsidence)

Pressure:

Pressure indicators describe the variables, which directly cause environmental problems. Some of the pressures for environment of KTM Valley:

[a] Lack of employment sectors[b] Unsystematic settlement patterns,[c] Over-consumption of natural recourses.[d] Insufficient public city transport system[e] Solid waste management[f] Polluting industries [g] Improper drainage and sewerage system[h] Large scale deforestation [I] Tourism.[j] Natural Disaster

[a] Lack of Employment Sectors:

People are migrating from rural areas and other urban areas of the state with the hope of getting employment opportunities in different formal sectors. The rate of migration is so high in comparison to the scope of employment in formal sectors is that all cannot get decent employment in the city. So, there is always a lack of employment opportunity. This unemployed mass never go back to their native place. They contribute to the population growth of the city leading to many other correlated environmental problems. [b] Unsystematic Settlement Pattern:

The settlement pattern of the city is greatly influenced by the rapid growth of population. The settlement pattern in KTM Valley can be classified in to two categories 1. Formal settlements and 2. Informal settlements or, slums, shanty and squatter settlements. There is always a mis- combination of formal and informal settlements in many locations of the city. During the early age of KTM, i.e. in 1950s, KTM had only formal human settlements constructed by the Royal Authorities for its ministers, officers, military staff and workers. But, as the city grew and headed towards more urbanization, more formal settlements were generated by the people along with informal settlements. [c] Over‐Consumption of Natural Resources:

Consumption of natural resources is always directly proportional to the population growth. More uncontrolled population leads to pressure on consumption of the natural resources of Land, water, air, forests etc. As the city grows with population and infrastructures, it destroys the proper land use pattern of the city. The present land use pattern of KTM Valley is as per the following.

From the land use analysis it is observed that the percentage of the vacant land in KTM appreciably high. The city has a good potential for future development on the Western side.

But rapid growth in urban population consumes more of land in an unsystematic manner causing threat to natural land resources. Over consumption of water, air, and forests are also due to the increase in the urban population in KTM Valley. People with low income living in informal settlements cannot afford to pay to the municipal corporation by taking individual water connections to their houses. So, they depend on the public water tap of the community or, natural water source or tube well of the locality. As they are not paying for consumption of water, they go on misusing. People with low income also pollute air by adopting cheapest means of fuel like fuel wood and coal for cooking purpose. Natural forests are also destroyed to spread the settlements and by collecting wood to use as fuel wood in low-income houses.

[d] Inefficient Public City Transport system:

The public city transport system is not that efficient to cater good service to the public. Human settlements are going on increasing in all possible geographical directions. But the network of the public transport system is not increasing accordingly. The city bus service is available in some of the fixed routes, which was there on ten years ago. New routes and connecting routes are not coming up causing inconvenience to the passengers depending on city bus service. Another practical problem the commuters face is that it takes much time to cover even a short distance because the city buses wait for passengers to fill the bus for the initial two to three stops from the starting points. There is no fixed time for the city bus to leave a particular stop. The time depends on either the bus getting filled up with passengers or the next bus reaching the stop from behind and the greatest problem the buses create is that, the whole period of waiting for the passengers is spent with the engines in on position causing a lot of air pollution.

These are the factors that discourage the public to commute by the city buses and encourage using the private vehicle to avoid inconvenience and to consume less time in travel. This increase in private vehicle ownership causes more air pollution of KTM Valley. [e] Solid Waste Management:

Solid waste can be defined as those wastes other than liquid and gas, which do not possess any value for the owners and are discarded. The effect of urban solid wastes is not only confined to one area of the environment, but it has the potentiality to cause ground water, surface water,

Land and air pollution. As such, with rapid growth of population, management of urban solid wastes has become a major concern to the public and is a thrust area of municipal administration of KTM Valley The quantity of solid waste generated increases with the increase in population and their changing life style and habits.

Solid waste management is one of the important obligatory functions of KTM Valley and Municipal Corporation. This service falls far short of desired levels, resulting in problems of health, sanitation and environmental degradation of the city.

[f] Polluting Industries:

KTM Valley is not at all an industrialized area. Still then, there are some patches of industries where we find mostly small to medium scale industries. There are many stone crushers located towards the southern side of the city. The other belts of different types of manufacturing Industries are–Bhaktapur, Lalitpur, Kathmandu Industrial Estates. These Industries put pressure on the air quality of the city. The breaks factory, stone crossing industries, uncontrolled housing are the major contributor for the pollution of the state of environment in the Valley.

[g] Improper Drainage and Sewerage System:

Since Kathmandu has undulating ridge and valley topography, the valleys act as natural drains to dispose off the wastewater of the city from the west to the east through the different ‘city drains ’, which ultimately drains in to the river “Baghmati ”.

The sewerage system of KTM Valley was initially designed to serve a total population of 200,000 people. With rapid pace of urbanization, it is also subsequently added with new Sewerage systems, which is not adequate enough to dispose off the sewers of the city. The congested sewerage system causes overflowing affecting environment adversely.

[h] Large Scale Deforestation:

Not long time ago, before the one decade KTM Valley and adjoining regions supported a thick vegetation cover, which was popularly known as Kathmandu Ban/jungle, a part of the Kathmandu dynasty. The forest was moist deciduous type. The biodiversity was remarkably rich. But with the growth of population and expansion of city, large‐scale deforestation took place. Concrete jungles disturbing the flora and fauna of the region replaced the natural Jungle. This large‐scale deforestation had direct impact on the microclimate of the region.

[I] Tourism Aspect:

Kathmandu Valley is known for its ancient art, culture, craftsmanship, and numerous monuments of historic and archaeological importance. One of the popular tourist destination in the South Asia. Its enchanting natural beauty and, temple sculpture and strategic location always attracts millions of tourists and holy devotees to the Kathmandu valley. UNESCO has described Kathmandu as a ‘living heritage site’. The valley has a number of temples, palaces, monasteries, and Buddhist stupas that are centuries’ old. A unique feature is the religious co-existence of Hindus and Buddhists, as they worship at the same religious sites. There are many interesting sites within a radius of 20 km, and it used to be said that there were as many temples as houses and as many festivals as there are days on the calendar.T here are many popular temples like, Pasupati Temple ,Kathmandu, Rudrayani Temple, Khokana,• Bramhayani Temple, Thaiba,• Bringareshwor Mahadev Temple, Sunakothi • Aadhinath Temple, Chobhar • Chilanchu Mahavihar Temple, Bagh Bhairab Temple, and Umamaheswor Temple in Kirtipur • Bajrabarahi Temple in Chapagaon • Shikara Temple of Rato Machhendranath in Bungamati

Tourists come to Kathmandu Valley throughout the year with heavy flow during the winter season. This tourist population is also sufficient to contribute to the driving force of growing population affecting the environmental state of KTM valley. The majority of the income of the valley comes from the hotel industry, which also put extra burdens in terms of garbage collection and waste disposal.

[J] Natural Disaster:

Infrastructural development in the valley facilitates the concentration of population from other parts of the country. Encroachment on land, haphazard construction of buildings, and rapid urbanization lead to rapid population growth No building codes are implemented although they were introduced in 1994; although Lalitpur Sub-Metropolitan City has implemented a Nepal National Building Codes since 16th January, 2003 to make city dwellers aware of the risk of earthquakes. Sky scrapers are being built without taking sub-surface geology into account. Although this is more prevalent in Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur are beginning to follow suit. Population growth trends are shown in Figure 43. The red triangles indicate the occurrence of major earthquakes. According to the figure, the population increased thrice in 50 years. According to Pandey and Molnar (1988), the population and number of houses in Kathmandu Valley in 1920 were 306,909 and 66,440 respectively. According to the 1991 census the population of Kathmandu Valley was 1,105,379 and according to that of 2001 it was 1,653,951.This means the population has increased five times since 1920. Similarly, the urban area of Kathmandu Valley has increased extensively from 1920.

No great earthquake has been reported between the longitude of Kathmandu and Dehradun for 300 years, and that could be a potential area for a big earthquake in future. This location lies between two great earthquake locations (the Nepal-Bihar earthquake of 1934 and the Kangra earthquake of 1905).Geological faults, fragile geological conditions, high intensity rainfall during monsoon, unplanned land use and insufficient fuel leading to deforestation are the forerunners to landslide occurrences. Figure 48 gives the location of landslides in the Kathmandu subsidence.

State of Environment:

State indicators show the current condition of the environment under the influence of different pressure points described earlier. The state of the environment of KTM Valley due to the combined effects of the different pressure heads can be described as follows:

Population growth and distribution, migration and urbanization, inter alias, affect the socio‐ economic development and settlement process of any country [Fukanuddin, 1990:92]. The population growth of Kathmandu Valley is caused mainly due to migration. All the migrants cannot be offered employment in the formal sectors. So, most of them being unemployed, usually look for the employment in urban informal sectors. They are forced to compromise with lower wages and lower rate of remittances and sub standard living in order to remit some amount for their rural dependants. The physical impact is reflected through high pressure on land and housing, growth of informal settlements of slums, shanty and squatter houses. The slums are located at different locations of Kathmandu Valley along with the formal settlements showing a contrast pattern of human settlement. The growth of the population in Kathmandu Valley has caused overuse, misuse, and illegal encroachment of land resources by constructing temporary low cost slum houses. Depletion of ground water table is caused by over tapping. The open water bodies are also polluted by over using those. The slum dwellers also pollute the air by adopting cheapest source of fuel to cook their food. Burning of firewood and coal emits lot of CO2 to pollute the air and also destroy trees and natural forests.

The city transport system cannot provide better service to the increasing population. So, there is always an increasing trend in the number of private vehicle ownership to commute comfortably and timely inside the city. The increasing numbers of vehicles emit different pollutants like-CO2, CO, Pb, SPM, etc to pollute the clean air of Kathmandu Valley. The table shows the rapid increase in the number of vehicles on the Kathmandu Valley roads.

The increasing number of road traffic and aero planes contribute much towards the noise pollution of the city. Movement of fleet of vehicles, two wheelers, their horn and engine sounds are the major contributors to the higher noise level of the city. As Kathmandu Valley is heading towards more urbanization, the living standard, life style and consuming pattern of the city public is also changing. These changes give rise to generation of more and more solid wastes. The volume of solid waste generated has a positive relation with the growth of population. The solid wastes comprise of paper, cloths, plastics, polythenes, metals, glass, leather, vegetables and organic wastes. The total generation of solid wastes in Kathmandu Valley is approximately 30,000 cft which weigh about 400 tons.

The generation of solid waste needs proper collection and disposal. In Kathmandu Valley, two clear economic sectors co-exist in the solid waste management system:

1. The formal sector, which has official responsibility for waste collection and disposal. The municipal authority coordinates its activities and it is funded through tax revenues at the municipal and state levels.

2. The informal sector, consisting of the waste picking activities of the waste pickers, municipal collection crews and resident waste pickers, who live and work in the landfill sites. Additionally, itinerant waste brokers travel around place‐to‐place purchasing and reselling materials from other workers in the informal sector. Both formal and informal sectors play significant role in the waste economy of Kathmandu Valley.

But, the Municipal Corporation of Kathmandu Valley is not able to tackle the solid waste management issue properly. This results in scattered solid waste in some parts of the city causing air pollution emitting bad odor and reducing the aesthetic value of the environment. There are some industries in the different industrial estate areas, which contribute to air pollution to certain extent. The details of the polluting industries are given below in table.

Apart from these industries, there are some stone crusher industries, which also pollute the surrounding air due to suspended stone dusts in the atmosphere. These stone dusts also destroy the normal vegetation of the locality.

The valley portion of the undulated topography of Kathmandu Valley is getting utilized by constructing residential buildings therein disturbing the drainage system of the city. And over population causes sewerage drains to get overflowed, flooding the city land at many locations. At some locations the sewerage water gets contaminated with the surface water also.

IMPACTS:

The substandard state of environment, due to different environmental pressure, causes adverse impacts on the Environment and ultimately on human health. The impacts may be summarized as:

Lack of employment opportunity causes mass unemployment resulting in the growth of many informal sectors through out the city. Growth of informal settlements like slums, shanty and squatter settlements causes heterogeneity in settlement pattern & loss of heritage. The slum dwellers are deprived of good housing, proper sanitation, clean water and air and other minimum facilities, which endanger the health, safety or morals of the inhabitants. The house of the informal settlements are very much susceptible to natural and man made disasters due to its low quality of construction, closeness of houses and temporary nature which causes threat to life and property all the time. Over consumption of natural recourses cause threat towards sustainability of our future generation to come. Due to the encroachment of the natural drainage paths for the purpose of constructing buildings and infrastructures, the smooth discharge of runoff water of heavy drown pour is not possible causing city flooding at some specific localities of Kathmandu Valley. Increased concentration of pollutants emitted from the running vehicles and industries cause increased number of lungs diseases and respiratory problems of the city dwellers. Children are the worst affected mass of the city. Increase in the number of vehicles also cause noise pollution at the city centers. Noise pollution affects the human beings physiologically and psychologically too. Long and continuous exposure to higher level of noise causes irritation and sometimes health problems too. Increased number of vehicles also causes traffic congestion. Improper solid waste management reduces the aesthetic value of the environment. If not cleared up in regular intervals, i.e. daily, it emits bad odor or, fowl smell causing air pollution of the environment. If proper techniques are not adopted starting from the collections till disposal, it may create health hazards. Overcrowding of people due to different factors like Migration, Tourism etc. over use the open water bodies located at different part of the whole old town areas, there by disturbing aquatic eco‐system. Large scale deforestation and increase in urbanization activities affect the prevalent micro climatic system of Kathmandu Valley. Since last couple of years heat island effect is very much observed during summer season. There is a very sharp rise in the maximum day temperature even up to the 35 C in the summer, which is uncommon for a urban valley like Kathmandu, located in the mountain slopes. A very big difference in the day’s maximum and minimum temperature is observed which causes many health problems. Over flow of sewers cause health hazards and also gives foul smell.

RESPONCES:

Some development programmes were taken up, during the last decades by the Nepal Housing Board [NHB] and Kathmandu Metropolitan Development Authority [KMDA] in the support of improving the quality of living of the slum dwellers and for reducing the pressure in the existing slum pockets. Some of the programmes are of direct in nature and others are indirect efforts.

Efforts:

To regulate the proper land use planning inside the Kathmandu city, KMPDA was formed. Unleaded gasoline replaced the leaded one to lower lead content in the air pollutants. Opening of vehicular emission test centers at different locations of the city. Construction of improved roads and providing other infrastructure facilities for smooth flow of traffic. Nepal Pollution Control Board was formed. Among its main objectives, one is to check and control pollution caused by the industries. Kathmandu Metropolitan Municipal Corporation is increasing the capacity of the sewerage system in phase wise manner. Avenue plantation and roadside plantation is going on from the dept. of Forests.

POLICY GAPS:

1. No policy so far formulated to make rural sides more attractive to reduce rural to urban migration 2. Employment generating schemes not initiated by the government. 3. No policy is thought of to create an intermediate urban center between Kathmandu Valley and the rural areas to reduce pressure on Kathmandu Valley. 4. No clear‐cut policy on the slum and squatter settlements has been formulated so far 5. Development of Kathmandu Valley without effectively implementing the existing master plan. 6. Slum up gradation and resettlement programmes fail or don’t get materialized as those are dealt without proper understanding peoples’ need and affordability. 7. Lack of strict enforcement of Laws. 8. Lack of future estimate by the Govt. 9. Corruption at each level hampers the process of up gradation of the environmental status of Kathmandu Valley. 10. Lack of infrastructural facility and fund. 11. Fund generation process of the municipality not properly implemented. 12. Lack of coordination between different government departments, NGOs and private groups. 13. Lack of peoples’ awareness. 14. Inefficient top‐down approach in management. 15. Lack of peoples’ participation in pollution control programmes.

Recommendations:

Policy should be formulated and implemented to increase the attractiveness of the rural side to reduce man-drain to the city. Rural areas must be provided with better facilities of good health service, better education and employment opportunity to restrict migration. Building Intermediate City to serve as link between Kathmandu Valley and nearby rural areas to check the population growth. Various income generating schemes should be introduced with the assistance of the government followed by skill development programmes in specific areas. Some clear‐cut policy on the slum and squatter settlement should be formulated to regulate the growth of informal settlements. Peoples need and affordability must be thoroughly analyzed before formulating any slum up‐gradation and resettlement programme. The existing master plan of Kathmandu Valley must be reviewed and revised thoroughly by a team of senior experts from different fields and then implemented strictly. Proper land use planning must be done. Public city transport network should be made efficient to discourage private vehicle ownership and encourage using public transport system to reduce air pollution, noise pollution and traffic congestion during the peak hours. Condition of engines of vehicles must be verified periodically by checking the emission. This emission checking process must be made very strict with heavy amount of penalty for the violators. Placement of the catalytic converters in the exhaust pipe must be made compulsory for each and every vehicle. Availability of better quality of gasoline with high‐octane value must be ensured in all petrol pumps. Infrastructure developments like construction of more and more improved roads, interchange, intersections and flyovers must be provided to allow smooth flow of traffic. All these facilities along with better traffic management can reduce pollution loads. People should be encouraged to buy four‐stroke motorbike compared to two stroke bikes to reduce pollution. The whole process of solid waste management should be made stream lined. Collection bins must be provided at different locations for organized garbage collocation. Different colored bins with clear writings on the sides with local, national and with English languages must be placed together for segregated collection of different types of urban solid waste. These placement patterns should be repeated at every 100 meter distance or, for every 100 people so that, people do not throw garbage here and there. The people of the municipal corporation must clean all the collection bins early in the morning hours every day. Segregation of the solid wastes is a must. The recyclable wastes like plastics, glass, metals etc must be sent for recycling. The other wastes can be disposed off suitably. Creating awareness among the public about solid waste management. Encourage 3‐R principle i.e. Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. EIA must be made compulsory for every industry or, project. Pollution from industries must be controlled by adoption of sophisticated new technology and end of the pipe technology. The stone crusher industries causing lot of air pollution should be shifted and relocated sufficiently away from the master plan area boundary of Kathmandu Valley. Production of noise from all sources expecting emergency requirements should be banned between 9.00 pm to 6.00am. Pneumatic horns of the vehicles should be banned altogether. City sewerage system must be made updated by redesigning, considering future growth. Urban sprawling in the vicinity of the natural drainage channels not only creates unhealthy situation but also frequent urban flooding caused due to heavy rain. Extra attention should be given at the time of granting planning permission. Hazardous waste generated must be disposed off properly irrespective of their quantity. Large‐scale avenue plantation must be encouraged. The developmental activities should be always interdisciplinary. Green agenda, Brown agenda and White agenda must be emphasized. Government must find means to generate funds for environmental protection. Improved techniques like GIS should be followed in town planning. Strict enforcement of laws. Awareness and capacity building among the public along with stakeholders consultation. Develop public‐private‐partnership [P.P.P] in protecting the environment of Kathmandu Valley.

Source & Reference:

ADB/ICIMOD (2006) Environment Assessment of Nepal Emerging Issues and Challenges. Kathmandu: ICIMOD and ADB Kathmandu Valley Environmental Outlook,(2007),ICIMOD Amatya, S. (2006) Water and Culture. Kathmandu: Jalsrot Vikas Sansthan (JVS) CBS (1994) Census of Manufacturing Establishments Nepal 1991 - 1992, National Level. Kathmandu: Central Bureau of Statistics. CBS (2002) Population Census of Nepal, 2001: Village Development Committee/ Municipality (Central Development Region).Kathmandu: Central Bureau of Statistics CBS (2003b) Population Monograph-2003. Kathmandu: Central Bureau of Statistics CBS (2004) Nepal Living Standards Survey Report CBS (2005) Poverty Trends in Nepal (1995-96 and 2003-04).Kathmandu: Central Bureau of Statistics DOH (2006) Annual Report 2005. Quality Control Section, Department of Health Services, Teku, 2006 FAO (1994) Indigenous Methods of Sustainable Vegetable Production in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. Bangkok: Regional Office for Asia and Pacific, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations HFA (1991) Kathmandu Valley Urban Development Plans and Programmes. Kathmandu: Government of Nepal, Department of Housing and Urban Development/Halcrow Fox and Associates Pradhan, P.K. (2004) ‘Population Growth, Migration and Urbanisation, and Environmental Change in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal.’ In Unruh, J.; Krol, M.; Kliot, N. (eds) Environmental Change and Its Implications for Population Mitigation. Dordrecht (The Netherlands): Kluwer Academic Publishers Pradhan, P.K.; Pradhan, B. (2006) Environment and Natural Resources: Concepts, Methods, Planning and Management. Kathmandu: Stanley/M-M/EAST Tebbutt, T.H.Y. (1992) Principle of Water Quality Control. London: Pergamon Press Tuladhar, D. (2006) Environmental Change along the Bagmati River in Kathmandu Valley. Dissertation for Master’s degree, Central Department of Geography, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal Tuladhar, T.M. (1998) Urban Growth, ADB/ICIMOD 2006. Environment Assessment of Nepal – Emerging Issues and Challenges. Kathmandu:Asian Development Bank/ICIMOD Basyal, V.; Pokhrel, D. (2004) Sustainable Options for Treatment and Disposal of Hazardous Health Care Waste, draft report for National Health Research Council and World Health Organization, Kathmandu Sharma, P. (2003) 'Urbanisation and Development,' in Population Monograph of Nepal Volume I. Kathmandu: His Majesty’s Government of Nepal, Central Bureau of Statistics Timilsina, B.P. (2004) Country Report of Nepal – Management of Urban Water Environment. Unpublished paper presented at JICA Executives ‘Seminar on Public Works and Management UNEP (2001) State of the Environment Nepal 2001.Bangkok: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Regional Resource Centre for Asia and the Pacific

This Report prepared by:

Ashutosh Mohanty, Ph.D

Regional Capacity Development Officer

Human and Institutional Development (HID) International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development

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